All 16 models of Mamiya Six (6) medium format camera with full specs and how to identify

Identify each model, with full specs and hands-on demonstration of two popular models, model IV and model K. These cameras have a very special place for camera collectors and smart users. If you have been searching for good information on these cameras or trying to identify your model, you are exactly in the right place. The story of Mamiya itself is also fascinating. You don’t want to miss it.
Mamiya 6 was the first camera designed by Mamiya’s founder and chief engineer Seiichi Mamiya in 1940. Unlike the later large and heavy medium format cameras Mamiya 6 was compact and relatively light. They were arguably the best of their type, bar none. They stood out in a vast field of similar competing cameras made in Japan and Germany.
Six stands for the 120 film with 6x6cm frame size, not model 6. There is a much later version of Mamiya 6 from 1989, also a great camera and quite expensive today. But that is a story for another day. In this video we look at 16 known models of the original Mamiya 6 from model I to Automat II.
Here are the models covered:
Mamiya Six I,
Mamiya Six I A,
Mamiya Six II,
Mamiya Six II A,
Mamiya Six III,
Mamiya Six III A,
Mamiya 6 IV,
Mamiya 6 V,
Mamiya 6 V A,
Mamiya 6 K,
Mamiya 6 IV B,
Mamiya 6 Automat,
Mamiya 6 KII,
Mamiya 6 P,
Mamiya 6 IVS,
Mamiya 6 Automat II
Full specification sheets are provided for each of the models. I demonstrate how to identify each model based on their unique feature combinations.
Information Sources
Note: some of these addresses are no longer live. But you will have to use the (Internet Archive) Wayback Machine to access them in the years past.
https://cameracollector.net/mamiya-si...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://neco.aki.gs/neco99/neco30/00/m...
http://neco.aki.gs/neco99/neco30/00/m...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/heritag...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://neco.aki.gs/neco99/neco30/00/m...
http://neco.aki.gs/neco99/neco30/00/m...
http://neco.aki.gs/neco99/neco30/00/m...
http://neco.aki.gs/neco99/neco30/00/m...
http://neco.aki.gs/neco99/neco30/00/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
http://www.mamiya.co.jp/home/camera/m...
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/paten...
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/User:Heri...
Accuracy of Information
This video has been the result of month of research and hard work. This includes numerous online sources. If you have tried the same you will know that:
• Many of the links are now broken
• Pictures don’t load
• Information from different sources is contradictory
• Pictures don’t match the descriptions
• Some of the sources don’t even agree on the identification of our hero Seiichi Mamiya
• Some of the technical descriptions are wrong
• Some of the English spellings of Japanese words are wrong
• There is a lot of copy/paste between the sources, which tends to reduce rather than increase confidence in the accuracy
I have generally preferred the accuracy of the information from Japanese sources written in Japanese. I have relied more on earlier rather than later information.
Nevertheless, I am certain that some errors may have inadvertently come through. If you detect any, please take a little time and send me the precise correctio in the comments and give your reference source. All the corrections will be done and uploaded again with thanks to all contributors.
Picture Credit
Special thanks to Mr Dirk HR Spennemann for permitting the use of some of his unique pictures of Mamiya 6 cameras found at http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Mamiya_Six and on his websites.